Western Victoria MP joins rowing backlash

UPPER House MP Simon Ramsay has become the latest community leader to express concerns about Lake Wendouree’s readiness to host rowing competitions, questioning the competence of senior Council officers. In a move Ballarat Mayor Cr Mark Harris called “a naked political attack” Mr Ramsay, member for Western Victoria, singled out Ballarat City Council connections and destinations manager Jeff Pulford over the state of the rowing course in the lead-up to the Head and of the Lake and Australian Masters Rowing competitions. “I was horrified to read of the mess made of the National Canoeing Championships in Ballarat at the end of January,” Mr Ramsay said last week. “It was the headline we all were waiting for, but hoped never to see.”He suggested that the crooked course and thick weed in the lake were further evidence of mismanagement by the council, after problems with the Ballarat saleyards and the Civic Hall redevelopment. On Saturday, The Courier reported that contractors hired by the council, including an international expert, were being brought in by Mr Pulford and Rowing Australia to work on the lake. “At some point, council officers need to take accountability for the ongoing project failures that have become the common denominator over many years and council cycles,” Mr Ramsay said. Cr Harris dismissed concerns that the Head of the Lake event might not go ahead, and said the first-term Liberal MP was making a veiled attack on Mr Pulford’s wife, fellow Upper House MP and shadow parliamentary secretary Jaala Pulford. “It is distressing that Mr Ramsay is making attacks on officers who can’t defend themselves in the press.“Jeff is Jaala’s husband, and this kind of naked political attack should be seen through a paradigm which is upsetting in a town like Ballarat,” Cr Harris said. Councillors sought to have good relations with the Victorian government, beyond partisan political attacks, Cr Harris said. “This kind of political witch-hunting of council officers is uniquely unjust and the Liberal Party is a much better party than Mr Ramsay represents it as.”In response to Mr Ramsay’s suggestion that Ballarat residents should be asking to review the appointment of Mr Pulford, Cr Harris said reviews took place at appropriate times. On Friday, Rowing Australia officials visited Ballarat and assurances were again made that the rowing course will be ready for the Head of the Lake on March 4.Since his election in 2010, Mr Ramsay has been a regular thorn in the side of the City of Ballarat, speaking in Parliament again the Civic Hall redevelopment in September and objecting to a new large-scale liquor retailer opening in the CBD.